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The Moon In A Midsummer Night's Dream

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The symbols moon, sleep and night are linked to each other because when it’s nighttime, the characters in Midsummer night’s dream go to sleep. And when they sleep, they have dreams and nightmares.
Throughout the play, the moon is used to mark the passage of time. For example, the two lovers from Pyramus and Thisbe agree that by moonlight that they'll meet at Ninus's tomb. Similarly, Egeus tells us that Lysander has often serenaded Hermia "by moonlight" (1.1.30) and Shakespeare reminds us over and over again that, when the lovers chase each other around in the woods, the action occurs "in the moonlight.” The moon is also related to sexual desire and chastity and is responsible for the lovers' erratic behavior. The moon has different phases and it "waxes and wanes." The moon's fickleness reflects the lovers' tendency to fall in and out of love. In act V, scene i, line 7-8, Theseus declares that "the lunatic, the lover and the poet / Are of imagination all compact." As we know, the term "lunatic" comes from the word "luna," which means "moon." During the play Pyramus and …show more content…

The dark forest is the center of the world, relegating Athens and center of the civilized Greek world. Day gives way to night, and mortal rulers leave the stage to be replaced by fairies. The special properties of night in a forest make it the perfect setting for the four lovers to set out on a project of self-discovery. Shakespeare implies that in darkness, reliance on senses other than eyesight leads to true seeing. The Pyramus and Thisbe play becomes comical because it's so cheesily performed, but its content is dark and nightmarish as well. Pyramus despairs when he believes a lion has killed Thisbe, and he escalates the perceived tragedy with his own actual suicide. Thisbe then feels compelled to kill herself too. This nightmare is violent and gory: both lovers impale themselves on a sword. As well, the effects of Oberon’s love potion are much like a

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